Today is Monday, March 30, the 89th day of 2009. There are 276 days left in the year.
239 B.C. _ First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1533 _ Henry VIII divorces his first wife, Catherine of Aragon
1778 _ Playwright Voltaire crowned with laurel wreath
1814 _ Britain and allies march into Paris after defeating Napoleon
1856 _ Russia signs Peace of Paris, ending the Crimean War
1858 _ Pencil with attached eraser patented (Hyman L. Lipman of Philadelphia)
1953 _ Einstein announces revised unified field theory
1972 _ North Vietnamese troops enter South Vietnam
1981 _ President Reagan shot and wounded by John W. Hinckley Jr.
1987 _ Vincent van Gogh's ``Sunflowers" sells for record $39.7 million